Morocco

The French Judiciary.

The French judiciary organization (which comes into play whenever Frenchmen or foreigners are concerned) comprises 12 peace tribunals, four tribunals (Casa blanca, Rabat, Ujda and Marrakesh) ; and a court of appeal (with Io magistrates), also at Rabat.

The Government Council and the French Taxpayer.—In order to secure "a constant and regular collaboration between the Government and French settlers in the country," the presidents and vice-presidents of the French chambers of commerce, cham bers of agriculture and mixed chambers of both (according to the regions; Io chambers in all), whose members are elected, assem ble, every two months, at Rabat, for the Council of Government, to which the 7 Directors-General, above enumerated, belong. A third College of the Council was created in 1927. It consists of French citizens not belonging to the second College (Agriculture, Commerce and Industry) ; that is to say, the liberal professions (lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, etc.), French artisans and work men, the functionaries and even the few rentiers. The first elec tion took place on May 15-29, 1927. It was marked, as in Algeria, by political squabbles among Frenchmen ; and so, probably, will not prove an unmixed blessing. On the other hand, it is difficult to exclude from a participation in the Government, and especially in the examination of the taxes, any category of French citizens who pay them (and the indirect taxes, at least, are fairly heavy). The sitting takes places every two months. The reports on budget questions are often entrusted to the elected president of the chambers of commerce or agriculture. Not counting Tangier, there were seven French daily papers and 3o periodicals in Morocco, and three native papers in Arabic (1923).

Finance.

The 1928 budget amounted to Fr. 640,000,00o; the annual debt charge, to Fr. 150,000,00o. A new loan of Fr. 819, 800,000 was authorized by the law of March 22, 1928, with the guarantee of the French Government. The former loans (1914, 1916 and 192o) amounted to Fr. 986,000,000, out of which Fr. 770,500,000 have been expended. The new loan is mainly des

tined for the Fez-Ujda railway line, which is estimated to cost Fr. 800,000,000, Fr. 750,000,000 of which will be at the charge of the Protectorate. It will complete the 752 km. of normal gauge railway lines already exploited or under construction (besides km. planned; and about 1,5oo km. of narrow gauge) and constitute an Imperial Highway from Tunis to Casablanca. The Casablanca to Marrakesh line was opened in November 1928.

Public Instruction.

Public instruction is still behind-hand with the natives, as there were only, in 1926, 77 missionary schools with 5,612 pupils; but there was a beginning even with the girls, quite a revolution in the Maghreb (1,041 in 1926) ; There are also 5 special schools for the sons of the "notables"; 13 apprenticeship schools (461 pupils) ; and 2 colleges (2o4 pu pils). The 34 Jewish primary schools had a far larger attendance (7,471 for a total Jewish population of 107,000) than the Moors' (6,879 school attendants in all for a population of 4,016,00o). The European schools (primary, technical and colleges) had a school population of 21,57o in 1926. (Hr. BR.) M. Steeg and Moroccan Prospects.—Under the prudent guidance of M. Steeg, the French Protectorate of Morocco gained assurance of a prosperous future. As in Algeria, he had great plans for la politique de l'eau (irrigation and water power), and the geographical conditions are better in Morocco. The Wazzan territory was pacified in the spring of 1927, and in December the Ida and other mountain tribes made their submission.

Two difficult campaigns in Morocco, in February and August 1933, resulted in the subjugation of the High Atlas regions. This completed the establishment of France in Morocco, and closed the era of French colonial warfare.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-See D. Berenguer Fuste, Campanas en el Rif (1923) V. Ruiz Albeniz, Las Responsabilidades del Desastre (1922) ; R. Kann, Le protectorat Marocain (1921) ; La Renaissance du Maroc (docu ments issued by the French residency).